Sunday, January 24, 2010

Flagrant Flamingo

Sunday Aloha
in
Waikiki

click on the childhood idyl

"I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things. . . I play with leaves.

I skip down the street and run against the wind."

Leo Buscaglia



"God has given you one face, and you make yourself another."
William Shakespeare



Rambutan close up

><> <>< . ><> ><>


When I was very young
each day seemed a
bead
strung on the string
of my life.


Smooth beads,
happy,
filigreed,
still-soft clay;
and some were
hot
with the passions
and recriminations of
youth.

Perfectly round,
imperfectly rounded out,
one by one
each day-bead
is strung
on the narrative thread
of my life.

And now I replay them
passing the beads through my fingers
like a rosary of regret, satisfaction,
and sudden realization.

It seems that each day
one bead is contemplated,
and removed,
until I shall wear
the choker of age.

And then one day
the last burnished bead
will slip from my hands at last;
rolling along the floor of our being,
then disappearing down the wormhole
of another jeweled path


ALOHA, cloudia

14 comments:

  1. No no, the beads grow not fewer in number, you will lose them to memory, perhaps, or put them in a special box, to be taken out and looked at on special days. May the days of your childhood be with you forever!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! Beautiful imagery here.
    "..a rosary of regret and satisfaction.."
    Lovely, evocative, profound.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your photos!! (I know I have said that befoe!!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I remember walking along Waikiki Beach in December, 1976. I saw Wilt Chamberlin walking along by the water in an orange t-shirt and yellow shorts.

    I had never seen the man in person before but there was no question that was him! I was told later he played volley ball or something on the islands.

    I vowed I would return soon -- but it is now 2010 and 1976 was how many years ago?? Too many....!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  6. No no regrets left on the lei. Those have all wilted and fallen off and different things now fill the garland of times necklace.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hiiiiiiiiii, Cloudy!! Love the Shakespeare quote. Happy Sunday from chilly New England!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ah, Cloudia, you sound melancholy, my friend, though I love the imagery. I often have sad days, myself. Yet, I hope that you and I both live to put more beads on our chokers, each one a memory of fondness, rather than regret. Time moves forward, and we must embrace it. One cannot drive forward while looking in the rearview mirror.

    Lift your face to the sun for me today - it is rainy here.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just wondering if you're aware of these two magazines. I got some market reports on them but it's not something I can use.

    Honolulu Magazine—PacificBasin Communications, 1000 Bishop St., Suite 405, Honolulu HI 96813. Editor: A. Kam Napier; Executive Editor: Kathryn Drury Wagner. (808)534-7546; [E-mail: akamn@honolulumagazine.com; kathrynw@honolulumagazine.com; http://www.honolulumagazine.com].

    Kamehameha Publishing—567 South King St., Suite 118, Honolulu HI 96813.[E-mail: publishing@ksbe.edu; http://www.kamehamehapublishing.org].

    ReplyDelete
  10. May the days of your childhood be with you forever!

    Work from home

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yes, Cloudia...some beads aren't overly pretty, and some are fragile and can break easily. But keep puttin' beads on and see what's created! Just as long as we have a few memory and funny beads left, so we can be grinin' at the nursing home, or sittin' on the beach! I'll be there with you.
    Aloha, DrumMajor

    ReplyDelete
  12. You guys are wonderful gems in my life!

    ReplyDelete
  13. It is a strange yet ultimately hopeful image.

    ReplyDelete

Thank You for Sharing.
SOME Comments are going
to Moderation. Fear Not! We
See & Publish them ALL Happily!